A COMPARISON OF IN-111-OCTREOTIDE AND GA-67 SCINTIGRAPHY IN MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA

We compared In-111-octreotide and Ga-67 scintigraphy for staging malig nant lymphoma. In 11 patients, planar imaging was performed 4 and 24 h after the injection of In-111-octreotide and 48 and 72 h after the ad ministration of Ga-67. Radiological and clinical data were used as the 'gold standard', resulting in the identification of 26 lesions. Twent y-three (88%) of these lesions were detected by Ga-67 and 18 (69%) by In-111 scintigraphy. All 14 supra-diaphragmatic lesions were detected by Ga-67 and 13 by In-111. In the intraabdominal areas, only two of ei ght known localizations were identified by In-111 scintigraphy, wherea s Ga-67 uptake was seen in six of them. In the inguinal regions, both tracers detected three of four lesions. Of the eight lesions of low-gr ade malignancy, seven were visualized by Ga-67 and five by In-111-octr eotide imaging. For the intermediate and high-grade lymphomas, Ga-67 s howed a similar detection rate (16/18 lesions), whereas In-111 was onl y able to detect 13 lesions. We conclude that In-111-octreotide provid es less information than Ga-67 scintigraphy and conventional staging m odalities. The best results for both tracers were observed above the d iaphragm. The Ga-67 results were more reliable for the detection of in fradiaphragmatic lesions.